Sofinnova Partners Announces Two First Investments from its MD Start III Medtech Acceleration Fund
Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the second investment from its MD Start III Fund, a medtech accelerator that actively works with clinicians and entrepreneurs to develop disruptive medical devices. In May 2019, the fund raised €48 million from key institutional investors and has made two seed investments so far: MastOR and Gradient Denervation Technologies. The most recent investment is in MastOR, a French company leveraging its core expertise in surgical robotics to develop enhanced laparoscopic devices to improve the precision and ergonomics of minimally-invasive surgery. The company was founded in 2019 by a renowned pioneer in laparoscopic surgery, Professor Brice Gayet of the Paris-based Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, and entrepreneur, Pierre Campredon.
“The Sofinnova MD Start team is known for its active, hands-on approach to company building,” said Prof. Gayet. “Their strategic and operational expertise is the perfect complement to the years of research and prototyping we have conducted thus far. Together, we will be able to accelerate the development of this game-changing technology and bring it to its full potential.”
MD Start III also invested in Gradient Denervation Technologies in February. The company is developing a medical device for a transvascular treatment of pulmonary hypertension, based on prior research and intellectual property developed at Stanford University. This has been an important area for MD Start, given its focus on interventional cardiology as a very innovation-savvy and fast-adopting medical community.
“These investments exemplify our mission of transforming innovative ideas into medical realities and backing inventors who are developing disruptive concepts for outstanding medical devices and procedures,” said Anne Osdoit, Partner at Sofinnova Partners. “Our network and partnerships have yielded a rich deal flow pipeline and we are confident in the potential for this fund to continue uncovering first-class devices that address major unmet medical needs.”
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, with offices in London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of 40 professionals from all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The firm focuses on paradigm-shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners invests across the Life Sciences value chain as a lead or cornerstone investor, from very early-stage opportunities to late-stage/public companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 48 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com
About MastOR
MastOR SAS is a Paris-based, early stage medical device company, developing a surgical robot for laparoscopy assistance. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund. The core technology is derived from joint research between the ISIR robotics lab at Sorbonne University and Professor Brice Gayet, a world-renowned surgeon and pioneer in minimally-invasive surgery. For more information, please visit: www.mastor-surgical.com
About Gradient Denervation Technologies
Gradient Denervation Technologies develops a device-based minimally invasive solution for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with technology derived from an invention by clinicians from Stanford University. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund and based in Paris, France. For more information, please visit: www.gradientdenervation.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200701005947/en/
Contact information
Media Contacts:
Bommy Lee
Head of Communications, Sofinnova Partners
blee@sofinnovapartners.com
+33 (0) 6 47 71 38 11
North America
RooneyPartners LLC
Kate Barrette
kbarrette@rooneyco.com
+1 212 223 0561
France
StrategiesImage
Anne Rein
anne.rein@strategiesimage.com
+33 (0) 6 03 35 92 05
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
FDA Clears First Extended Depth of Focus Contact Lens for Presbyopia23.12.2025 18:07:00 CET | Press Release
The Cataltheia Group and its U.S. subsidiary, Bruno Vision Care LLC, a leader in eye health innovation, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the first and only Daily Disposable Soft (Hydrophilic) Contact Lens for Presbyopia utilizing patented Extended Depth of Focus (EDOF) optical design technology, enabling commercial distribution in the United States. Deseyne® delivers smooth, continuous focus across near, intermediate, and distance vision, providing clear, natural vision without compromise. This performance is enabled by Cataltheia’s patented hyper-refractive central zone, engineered to precisely redirect light in a controlled manner. The result is a clear clinical advantage over the only other available contact lens option for presbyopia, multifocal lenses, which rely on multiple optical zones and often require prolonged visual and cognitive adaptation. “We are proud to offer the first contact lens solution for the world’s aging population th
Aramco Awards SLB Long-Term Contract to Support Kingdom’s Unconventional Gas Production Growth23.12.2025 14:58:00 CET | Press Release
Global technology company SLB (NYSE: SLB) has been awarded a five-year contract by Aramco to provide stimulation services for its unconventional gas fields. This award is part of a broader multi-billion contract, supporting one of the largest unconventional gas development programs globally. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251223074948/en/ The contract encompasses advanced stimulation, well intervention, frac automation, and digital solutions, which are important to unlocking the potential of Saudi Arabia’s unconventional gas resources. The contract encompasses advanced stimulation, well intervention, frac automation, and digital solutions, which are important to unlocking the potential of Saudi Arabia’s unconventional gas resources — a cornerstone of the Kingdom’s strategy to diversify its energy portfolio and support the global energy transition. “This agreement is an important step forward in Aramco’s effor
Tabelog, Japan's Largest (*1) Restaurant Search and Reservation Service, Launches Multilingual App for International Visitors23.12.2025 14:00:00 CET | Press Release
Tabelog (https://tabelog.com/en/), Japan's largest restaurant search and reservation service operated by Kakaku.com, Inc., launched its multilingual smartphone application (iOS/Android) for international travelers on Monday, November 17, 2025. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251221963753/en/ The Tabelog Multilingual App for International Travelers — Japan's Largest Restaurant Search and Reservation Service With approximately 100 million monthly users(*3), Tabelog is Japan's premier service widely used by Japanese locals for daily restaurant discovery. Its database is unrivaled domestically, featuring information on approximately 890,000 establishments nationwide and over 85 million reviews and photos(*4). Unlike global map services or travel sites, Tabelog is built on "authentic ratings and reviews from local Japanese users," enabling travelers to discover truly exceptional restaurants beloved by locals — not
BeOne Medicines to Present at the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference23.12.2025 12:01:00 CET | Press Release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (NASDAQ: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced it will participate in the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, with a presentation at 7:30 am PST. Live webcasts of these events can be accessed from the investors section of the Company’s website at https://ir.beonemedicines.com, https://hkexir.beonemedicines.com, https://sseir.beonemedicines.com. Archived replays will be available on the Company’s website. About BeOne Medicines BeOne Medicines is a global oncology company based in Switzerland that is discovering and developing innovative treatments that are more accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a portfolio spanning hematology and solid tumors, BeOne is expediting development of its diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through its internal capabilities and collaborations. With a growing global team of nearly 12,000 colleagues spanning six continents, the Company is committed to
I-care Becomes a Unicorn23.12.2025 10:45:00 CET | Press Release
I-care announces the completion of a €20 million fundraising and refinancing operation, carried out as a round reserved for existing shareholders and employees. Based on this operation, the group's valuation reaches €1 billion, making I-care a unicorn. "Becoming a unicorn is a symbolic milestone. To achieve this, we chose to invest before reaping the rewards: we bet on AI when few believed in it, we prioritized R&D, and we built our own production unit. These choices were sometimes difficult, but they were essential to staying ahead of the game. Today, our results confirm that this strategy was the right one," explains Fabrice Brion, CEO of I-care. This fundraising round is the first step in a three-phase development plan. Following the “Eau Rouge” operation in 2022, which enabled I-care to become the world leader in predictive maintenance, the company has now set itself a clear objective: to accelerate its growth in order to increase its market share. The second phase of this plan wil
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom